Do you have your Twitter username?

DomainReport.ca

I first joined Twitter back in the spring of 2007 (or was it 2008?), before it really took off the following winter.  I had read about it somewhere and it looked like an interesting idea at the time.  Being a domainer, I thought that having a good username could be a benefit down the road.  Almost everything was available back then, for example a lot of major city names could be had.  I had no idea how much Twitter would grow from that point.

Flash forward to 2011, and I've noticed in the past year especially that many domain companies and blogs now have Twitter accounts, along with almost everyone else in the media, sports, and entertainment worlds.  Twitter is practically on a par with Facebook as an account you must have if you are using social media to advance your business.  Many probably use Twitter and not Facebook, because Twitter is so easy to use, and gets your message out fast to a potentially huge audience (compared to Facebook, where only people who have connected with you will see your message).

For those who haven't jumped on the bandwagon yet, I'd strongly suggest to go and register a Twitter account and pick a username that would suit your business, or future business plan.  Because as it is with domains, every day the pool of decent available usernames is shrinking.

What can you do with Twitter?

- If you have a blog, send out a tweet with keywords every time you do a blog post.  Remember a Twitter tweet can possibly be seen by anyone who has a Twitter account and is searching for those keywords.

- Let people know what you are doing in real-time.  Having a sale?  Product launch?  Have a message you want to get out instantly?  Send a tweet.

- Get feedback.  People can contact you with questions or comments about your company.  You can get this feedback in real time.

- Follow people you respect.  Many people or companies you admire or respect probably have a Twitter presence.  You can 'follow' them and get their info in real time.

- See trends and breaking stories.  A lot of news these days gets posted first on Twitter by the people who are around it.  It's a great way to find out what is happening right now.

If you don't think you need Twitter, or can't see a use for it now, it doesn't matter.  Get an account and see what it offers.  Somewhere down the line you will likely find that a Twitter account can be helpful to your marketing.  Like others smarter than me have stated, 2010 is the year that the internet and social media have started to go mainstream, and Twitter is a service you just can't ignore anymore.

You can follow me on Twitter.  I'm @DomainMedia

And if you want to check out how Twitter hashtags (#) work, and see popular Twitter hashtags, check out this Popular Twitter Hashtags site.

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